Ithaca Seminar
Musical Meaning in a Global Context
ICSM 10109 01
Fall 2007
Naeem Inayatullah

 

Email: naeem@ithaca.edu

Muller 325

Fall 2007: JJWCW – 3302; MWF 10-1050AM; M 12-1250 PM
Office phone: 274-3028

Office Hours:
Monday 11-1150, 1:00 – 3:30;
Wednesday 11-noon, 1:00 – 3:30;
Friday 11-noon;
And by appointment.

1. Introduction

Music has stealth.  It slips in under our critical radar and in between the gates of our biases.  It can make our bodies surrender, lifting our spirits, allowing us to commune with beings beyond ourselves.  Yet, this transcendent quality of music does not merely hover above the earth.  Rather, music’s capacity to enrapture us derives from specific cultural soils: musicians make music in a specific time and in a historically shaped space.  Musicians solve immediate problems, articulate particular feelings, create sonic utopias that expose fears and formulate dreams.

Alternative musical forms originating in different cultures do not exist side by side merely for our consuming pleasure – like tubs of ice-cream at Purity’s (an Ithaca ice cream parlor).  Difference – whether it is different ice cream, different cultures, different musical forms – suggests critique.  Thus pistachio is not merely sitting next to the mocha fudge offering us different tastes for different days.  Both are also offering critiques of each other.  The ‘pistachio’ critiques the ‘mocha fudge.’  It challenges the deep bass flavors of the chocolate accents and the bittersweet quality of the coffee flavor.  These flavors, says the pistachio, are too deep, too complicated, too heavy for ice cream’s essentially frivolous nature.  Meanwhile the ‘mocha fudge’ chides the simplicity and lightness of ‘pistachio’ as being too close to the plain nothingness of vanilla.  Pistachio ice-cream, says the mocha fudge, is not sufficiently robust to satisfy the deeper human needs filled by real ice cream. 

We know, of course, that pistachio and mocha fudge don’t explicitly critique each other.  As far as I know, ice cream does not speak – although on occasion it does make people sing or cry.  Nevertheless, what I want us to consider is the hypothesis that, implicitly, difference always suggests critique.  Different flavors of ice cream, like different forms of music, like different cultures, imply mutual critique.  Such critiques produce many responses.  Among them are defensiveness, will-full avoidance, annoyance, and anger.  But also: respectful listening, learning, growing and change.  Implicit aesthetic critiques, then, are a kind of quiet argument, a quiet debate, perhaps even a quiet fight. 

Studying “musical meaning in a global context” will, I hope, give us even more pleasure than outings at the local ice cream parlor.  However, I want to suggest that each of the musical forms we study can also be seen as a critique of all other musical forms, including our favorites.  This course will challenge us -- fundamentally and powerfully.  I hope that we will start asking ourselves what our musical tastes mean to us.  How do they ground our identity as aesthetic and political beings. 

Then there is the further issue of North American students consuming and producing music that emerges from other locales.  Are we aware of this music’s political, cultural, spiritual nature?  Would we consume and produce it in the same way if we had a better knowledge and appreciation of its deeper purposes?  Having gleaned this music’s context, what can we learn to have a meaningful posture towards it?  Does the fullness of this music highlight and speak to the lack of something in our own musical traditions?  Does identifying the similarities and differences in our relative aesthetic and political postures help us reconstruct our own lives?  These are questions for a lifetime of work and play.

 

2. Caveats (i.e. cautions):

This is not a music course.  Rather, it’s a course about the place of music in life and politics.  By politics I do not mean just the events of international or domestic relations like elections, revolutions, and wars.  Instead, I mean more of what might be called “meta-politics” – our formulation of the meaning of musical and political order and disorder.  You should know that I do not have any formal training in the reading, playing, or teaching of music.  Besides my teaching experience, the only qualification I bring to this course is a passion for music, an admiration for artists who create it, and curiosity about the society within which the music and artists are embedded. 

3. Readings:

a) Books:
• Callahan, Mathew, The Trouble with Music, (AK Press, 2005)
• Chernhoff, John Miller, African Rhythm and African Sensibility, (Chicago, 1981).

b) Course Reader (purchased from Gail Belakur in Muller 309):

Napoli, James, “Glossary of Musical Terms,” 2006
Burwell, Carter, “Orchestrating War,” Harper’s, Feb. 2004, pp. 15-19.
Dinerstein, Joel, “Thunder Road,” Creation Spirituality, Volume 10, 1, Spring 1994, pp. 38-41.
Adorno, Theodor W., excerpts from “On Popular Music” 1941.
Negus, Keith, Producing Pop: Culture and Conflict in the Popular Music Industry, Edward Arnold, 1992, pp. vii-ix, 1-19, 151-60.
Alleyne, Mike, “Positive Vibration? Capitalist Textual Hegemony and Bob Marley,” in Belinda J. Edmondson (ed), Caribbean Romances: The Politics of Regional Representation, U Virginia, 1999, pp. 92-104.
Waajid, Malikah, “Paper #5,” April 14, 2005.
Waajid, Malikah, “Music is the Vernacular of the Human Soul,” June 2, 2004.
Kirsch, Trisha, “Final Paper,” May 6, 2004.
Marmar, Noah, “Droppin’ Drum Bombs on Kenny G’s Studio: A Case Against Musical Relativism,” ms. May 2002.

  1. Videos

 

Fela in concert VIDEO 6539 [videorecording]. View Video 1992, c1981.
Fela Live : VIDEO 6538Fela Anikulapo-Kuti and the Egypt 80 band [videorecording]. Shanachie Entertainment 1991.

  1. Listenings: (CDs and one or two LPs and videos acquired for this course and on Reserve on the second floor of the Library).  Please note that these are just for the West Africa part of the course.  I will hand out updated lists as we move into the other parts of the course.

 

Alhaji Ibrahim Abdulai,

  1. Master Drummers of the Dagabon, volume 1, 1981, Rounder, CD 7141
  2. Master Drummers of the Dagabon, volume 2, 1981, Rounder, CD 7201

Fela Anikulapo-Kuti: (Style: Afrobeat)

  1. The Best of Fela Kuti, (MCA). CD 5209 [Stay with the music performed between 1971-1979, that is when drummer Tony Allen is with the band.]
  2. Expensive Shit/He Miss Road, Universal 70302 and MCA 547030, 1975, CD 5180
  3. Confusion/Gentleman, Fela Ransome Kuti & the Africa 70, 1973/74, CD 6593

 

Sunny Ade (style: Juju)

  1. Best of the Classic Years, Shanachie, 2003, 1967-74, CD 6591
  2. Ekilo fomo ode & the way forward, Disc Makers, 1999, [Classic Years volume 2] CD 6522
  3. Ju Ju Music, PGD/Mango 539712, 1982, CD 5186
  4. Syncro System, Mango 539737, 1983, CD 5188
  5. Aura, Mango 539824, 1984, CD 5218
  6. Live, Live JuJu, Rykodisc 10047, 1987, CD 7023
  7. Seven Degrees North, BMG/V2 91100, 2000, CD 5187

 

Chief Stephen Osita Osadebe (Style: Highlife)

Kedu America, Xenophile Records 4044, 1996, CD 5182
Sound Time, IndigeDisc 495001, 2001, CD 6756
Classic Hits [from 1960s and 70s] Leader 3, 2001, CD 6655

Style (Fuji)

Barrister, Kikiru Ayinde, New Fuji Garbage, Globe Style 67, 1991, CD 6654
Alao, Anafi, Original Fuji and Akpala á go go, VA014 Voix d'Afrique, 1994, CD 6581
Marshal, Wasiu Ayinde Anifowoshe, Talazo Fuji Music Party!101 WOMAD, 1997, CD 6592

(Some of the Women:
Malouma (Malouma Mint Moktar Ould Meidah),
- Dunya, Marabi, 2004, CD 9125
- Dessert of Eden, Shanachie, 1998, CD 8735

Dimi Mint Abba, Music and Songs of Mauritania Ethnic, 1995, CD10351.

Oumaou Sangare
- Oumaou, Nonesuch, 2004, CD 8750
- Moussolou, Umvd/Ryko, 1994, CD 8734.)

  1. Course Outline and the Design of the Course

 

a) Tentative outline:

The following is an outline I have in mind.  We may change it to fit our needs.  We focus on West African music (about 5-7 weeks), Asian music (4 weeks or less), Middle East music (4 weeks or more).

b) Design:

I think of the design of a course as similar to a style of music.  Most courses follow “classical (European) music” in design.  That is, the audience hears music mostly pre-determined by the score.  The music may change slightly from performance to performance but this change is not usually a part of the design of classical music.  In contrast, Jazz, classical Indian music, and West African drumming combine the structure of the piece, the interpretative skill of the players, and the response of the listeners to create a specific structured improvisation.  Accordingly, I have designed this course to change from one experience to another according to the interaction of students, instructor, and the reading materials.  Thus no two classes or experiences should be the same because the interaction of the three differs on each occasion.  This design embraces collective improvisation.

An anarchic (not to be confused with chaotic) design has consequences for our sense of time in the course.  To some the course will feel less structured and slower than what they might expect.  The good news is that the course may also feel like something we create together.

 

  1. Evaluation

General Statement:

Let me lay out a few parameters.  First, as always with my courses, I hold to the belief that we do not "know it" unless we can "write it."  So I hope to have 100% of the grade based on writings.  It is, perhaps, legitimate to argue that art and music cannot be properly talked or written about.  However, this belief is not consistent with my goals in this course.  I hold to the view that while producing art and writing/talking about art are indeed different kinds of activities, I also think the latter is possible, necessary, and perhaps crucial to art's full purposes.  If you cannot consider the premise that art can be written and talked about --or if you are unwilling to test it (which is different from accepting it – you need not accept), then, I strongly recommend against taking this course.  It will only frustrate you.  Second, in recent years, I have come to respect the attempt to assess one's learning in a retrospective and comprehensive manner.  This means I would like to see a comprehensive paper at the end of the course that synthesizes all or most of the course materials.  Third, while theory and history/biography are indispensable elements of this course, the music itself, it seems to me, has to be our primary focus.  This means we need to incorporate listening exercises as a regular part of the course.  It also means I would like to see regular writings on the music as a part of evaluation.  Finally, as always, an "entry paper" and an "exit paper" are required but not graded.  Details on this will follow in class.

Specifics:

  1. A comprehensive final paper that incorporates your experience and learning within the course but which incorporates your understanding of the readings.  I will give you some sense of how to do this paper in class.  But in general what I am looking for is a “bibliographic essay.” Lets make it due, Noon, Monday, December 17, 2007.  Shall we say this accounts for 40% of your grade? 

 

  1. 5 to 6 short (3-5 page) papers that we might call “directed listening.” (N.B. you are directing me on how to listen to the music you are writing about.)  I will take these papers on Mondays.  Only one per week, please.  Please do not write a new paper until you have read my comments on the prior one.  These counts for 60% of your grade.  I would like to see at least 3 of these by Monday, October 15, 2007.  See below on how to write these.
  1. How I would like you to write the “directed listening” papers

 

I would like these short papers to contain four parts that you can arrange in any order you like.

  1. Context:  Where are we?  I need the name of the artist, the name of the CD, the year the music was produced, the context it was produced in, and the specific cut(s) you will focus on.  If you plan to focus, for example, on the middle five minutes of the third cut, let me know that this is what you will do.  Use the minutes and seconds counter to let me know where you are when you are describing something.  List for me the instruments you hear.  If you don’t know the names, describe their sounds on your way to learning the names. 

 

  1. Summary: In about 50 to 100 words I would like you to give me an overview of what you have heard.  Obviously different ears and different outlooks towards music will hear the music differently.  This is not a problem.  Just do your best to describe what you hear.  If you have no technical language to describe the music that is not a problem at all – it might even work in your favor.  If you have such technical language by all means use it but try to gage what I will be able to understand.  If you don’t think I understand a particular term, say a reverse clave  – teach me.  The more you are able to teach me the better off both of us will be.  (Did you notice the radical inversion of the teacher-student relationship?)
  1. Response: I would like you to use most of the space to give me your intuitive, emotional, bodily reactions to the listening.  Knowing how you respond to the reading interests me.  Pay close attention to how your body reacts to the music.  Try to turn your intuitions and emotions into articulated thoughts (because an emotion may merely be a yet-to-be-articulated thought.)  If your response happens to be boredom, write about that.  What kind of boredom is it exactly?  Resist the temptation to give me the conclusions of your emotion/thought process.  Like a good math professor, I am far more interested in the process than the conclusions. 

 

You might be content to find and articulate one type of response, say, boredom, indifference, or approval.  But I would like you to search more carefully.  See if you can find more than one response to a piece of music.  Finding is often a matter of looking, and if you look for more than one response you might find it.  Specifically, I want you to try to find responses that create a tension or conflict within you.  For example, you might like and dislike a piece, approve and disapprove of it, or it might foster both fear and attraction.  Try not to let any one emotion/thought dominate or monopolize your responses.  In addition, I am not keen that you resolve the tensions between your responses.  Instead, I would like you to sustain, develop, and deepen tensions. 

  1. Articulating Aesthetic/political Principles: This is the most difficult of the four parts.  I would like you to take a step back from the text and ask yourself: By what process did I come to feel/think this way about this music?  Think ice-cream: why do I like a particular kind of ice-cream.  (Try not to merely repeat your responses in this section.)  I would also like you to think/write about how your responses originate.  Over the semester and over the course of writing 6 of these, I hope you will develop a list of the aesthetic (and political) principles by which you respond to music at this time in your life.  If you are successful at this, you will have achieved nothing less than having articulated the basis of your aesthetics and politics. 

 

9. How to write the Final Paper:

As I said, I have come to believe that a comprehensive and retrospective look at our readings/materials/experiences may be a valuable exercise.  Comprehensive means I am asking you to examine all of the readings/materials/experiences for the semester.  You need not give each equal time.  However, making appropriate and meaningful references to readings you do not plan to examine in detail is an artful way to suggest comprehensiveness.  Or, you may decide that the thematic fiber of your essay requires you to separate into two parts – those readings that easily fit into your themes and then a separate space for those that do not. 

Retrospective means from the point of view of having gone through the course and thereby looking back at what you read.  The experience of sequentially going through the materials differs from examining them all together at the end. 

Putting it all together requires you think of form.  Allow me to suggest some forms: 1) List: you go through each reading and provide insights; 2) Textual Hub: select a single text as the center of your examination and then use it to assess al the others, or have it speak to all others –maybe in a call and response form; 3) Thematic Hub: Let the hub be a theme you are exploring; 4) Multiple Dialogue: have your texts all speak to each other; 5) Silent Middle: weave a thread around an issue that you do not actually speak to but the presence of which is highlighted by its absence; and 6) Deliberate consistency or Tension: derive a form that is consistent with your content or one where the inconsistency between your form and content is something you use to create a deliberate tension.  These are just a few I conjured.  I am sure you can come up with many more.